China Confirms
Outbreaks Reach
Its Rural Counties

By

Charles Hutzler Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Updated Feb. 2, 2004 3:10 p.m. ET

BEIJING -- The widening spread of avian influenza in China is hitting the country in its weakest part -- the impoverished countryside -- complicating efforts to track the virus and heightening the risks it could be transmitted to humans.

Initially slow in reporting any outbreaks of the avian flu, China confirmed a spate of new cases among poultry in the past few days. The government said the same virus that has killed 10 people in Vietnam and Thailand was detected among poultry in two counties, in addition to a previously...